While FX's Legion is the latest comic book-based series making its way to TV, Marvel Television’s Jeph Loeb says he’s not concerned that viewers will expect something similar to other Marvel series on the air.
“We don’t know anyone will come to this show because they think it’s gonna be like The Defenders,” said Loeb at the Television Critics Association press tour today, saying he thinks people will, “Come to it because of Noah Hawley and incredible cast and writing and FX." Loeb described it clearly, “A show Marvel’s never made before.”
Showrunner/executive producer Hawley, the creator of FX’s acclaimed Fargo, said that when it came to taking the Legion job, “The first thought I had looking at the genre was if you remove the genre is there a compelling show you’d want to watch there? The underlying show, whatever the genre, has to be compelling.”
Here, he gravitated to the main character, telepath/telekinetic David Haller (Dan Stevens), focusing on his storyline and how it related to Syd, the character played by Rachel Keller (Fargo) and their “epic love story,” and then, as he put it, “put the genre back into it.”
Hawley said his big decision on Legion was to make everything very subjective – “the opposite of Fargo.” David, who we meet inside a mental institution, has a very strange perspective on the world, which is reflected in Legion's unusual production design. Said Hawley, “At every moment you’re experiencing what he’s experiencing. His perception of reality is some of it feels retro, some of it feels futuristic. It’s important to make something unique.”
In Marvel comics, David Haller is Professor X’s son and has had encounters with teams like the X-Men and New Mutants, but as Legion begins, David is the only familiar comic character. When I asked Hawley if that might eventually change, he replied, “I think so,” but added, “I wanted to approach it like I approach Fargo,” saying he has nothing but respect for the comics, but “What was more interesting to me was take the concept of this character and use his subjective reality to create something that’s a little more of a fable or parable on some level - in order to create something unexpected, which I think is always important to an audience.” H
e liked that even if you read the comics, you can’t say, “I read it. I know what’s gonna happen.”
Stevens remarked, “I don't think you need to have read the X-Men comics or even really know who Legion is to know what's happening with the show. Noah was very determined to come at this from a fresh angle. It certainly has a very fresh aesthetic to it. It doesn't look like any other comic book adaptation I've seen. I think it will pleasantly surprise a lot of people.”
He added, “I don't know if [X-Men] is as explicitly referenced, but there's certainly reference to the wider Marvel universe and the world of mutants and mutations.”
In the series, David meets a group of mutants, led by Jean Smart’s character, Melanie Bird, and Hawley said his approach was to explore how they were almost all “Different in a way that ostracizes them. The story is always about them finding their power, both literally and as people. You have these characters that are defined one way by society. The show is about that.”
In the case of David, he thinks he has a mental illness, only to be told he has mental abilities instead and learns “What you thought was your mental illness was your power.” In almost every case, with the supporting characters, “What their power was is almost metaphorical to what their issues are.”
Legion premieres February 8th on FX.
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheEricGoldman, IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at http://ift.tt/LQFqjj.
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